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Monday, August 1, 2011

The U.S. Justice Department today filed a lawsuit challenging Alabama's
new immigration law, which is slated to go into effect next month.

In
its lawsuit, the Justice Department says Alabama's law
unconstitutionally interferes with the federal government's authority
over immigration.

"To put it in terms we relate to here in
Alabama, you can only have one quarterback in a football game. In
immigration, the federal government is the quarterback," said Joyce
White Vance, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.

Justice
Department lawyers write in the lawsuit that the department is filing
the action "to declare invalid and preliminarily and permanently enjoin
the enforcement of various provisions" of the state law, according to
the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Birmingham
this afternoon. Provisions within the state's immigration law "are
preempted by federal law and therefore violate the Supremacy Clause of
the United States Constitution."

(Story continues below...)

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Parts of the state law also undermine the federal government's
careful balance of immigration enforcement priorities and objectives,
according to a U.S. Justice Department joint statement from federal and
local officials about the lawsuit.

"The brief
filed today makes clear that, while the federal government values state
assistance and cooperation with respect to immigration enforcement, a state
cannot set its own immigration policy, much less pass laws that conflict with
federal enforcement of the immigration laws," according to the statement.

"Today's action makes clear that setting immigration policy and
enforcing immigration laws is a national responsibility that cannot be
addressed through a patchwork of state immigration laws," said Attorney
General Eric Holder. "The department is committed to evaluating each
state immigration law and making decisions based on the facts and the
law. To the extent we find state laws that interfere with the federal
government's enforcement of immigration law, we are prepared to bring
suit, as we did in Arizona."

Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano stated that Homeland Security continues to
enforce federal immigration laws in Alabama and around the country "in
smart, effective ways that focus our resources on criminal aliens and
employers who knowingly hire illegal labor, as well as continue to
secure our border."

"Legislation like this diverts critical law
enforcement resources from the most serious threats to public safety and
undermines the vital trust between local jurisdictions and the
communities they serve," Napolitano said. "We continue to support
comprehensive reform of our immigration system at the federal level
because this challenge cannot be solved by a patchwork of inconsistent
state laws."

Birmingham Chief of Police A.C. Roper, according to
the statement, believes that the Alabama immigration law will hamper
local law enforcement's ability to police the community effectively.
Roper stated that the law will require the Birmingham Police Department
to "expend scarce resources on immigration matters at the expense of"
municipal priorities.

Alabama and several other states have
enacted state immigration laws in the wake of Arizona's law. The Justice
Department in July 2010 also had challenged Arizona's immigration law.

Alabama's
new immigration law targets unauthorized immigrants, those who don't
have federal alien registration or other proof of legal presence in the
United States. If it takes effect, the law would criminalize their
presence in Alabama and make it a crime for them to work here, among
other things.

An estimated 120,000 unauthorized immigrants lived
in Alabama in 2009 and 2010, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a
nonpartisan research organization in Washington.

The new law would require a law officer
stopping, detaining or arresting a person to make a reasonable attempt,
when practicable, to determine the citizenship and immigration status
of the person if there is reason to suspect the person is an illegal
alien. Law officers would have to contact federal officials to check the
person's status.

It will be a crime for a person who knew or
recklessly disregarded that an immigrant was in the United States
illegally to: conceal, harbor or shield the immigrant from detection,
transport the immigrant or rent a dwelling unit to the immigrant. School
districts will be required to report to the state school board the
numbers of its students born outside U.S. jurisdiction or who have a
parent who is an illegal immigrant.

Employers in Alabama
beginning April 1 must use the federal E-Verify program to verify the
employment eligibility of a new hire. Employer found to have knowingly
employed an unauthorized immigrant would have the business license
suspended or revoked for where the person worked, except those who had
used the e-verify information.

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